19th January - Computacenter is helping to put technology at the heart of NHS Oldham’s new Oldham Integrated Care Centre. With more standardised and efficient systems, the care centre will help NHS Oldham improve patient care through greater access to medical applications and information.
 
NHS Oldham is responsible for commissioning healthcare services for 227,000 people in Oldham. These services are delivered across a variety of settings by a wide range of clinicians including doctors, consultants, GPs, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and other health care professionals.  They are also responsible for providing community services through Oldham Community Health Services (part of NHS Oldham).
 
Paul Lyons, Associate Director of Finance - Head of Information Management and Technology at NHS Oldham, said: “The Oldham Integrated Care Centre will bring together a range of frontline medical services in a purpose-built facility and feature the latest technologies to improve productivity and patient care.
 
“By making better use of information computer technology (ICT), we can maximise the time clinicians spend with patients, which will help improve patient outcomes and reduce waste making the services operate more effectively.”
 
The network supporting the new centre has been designed and deployed by NHS Oldham’s prime ICT partner, Computacenter. Computacenter has also configured and installed 350 new desktops and, with support from its partner 1E, a company that helps organisations reduce IT costs and environmental footprint, implemented 1E's Power and Patch Management Pack, a combination of market-leading PC power management solution NightWatchman(R) and Wake-on-LAN availability management solution WakeUp (TM).
 
These systems will enforce the shutdown of desktop computers and enhance the management and distribution of operating system patches. As a result, NHS Oldham will be able to reduce energy costs by £41,000 in the first year and decrease its carbon footprint.
 
Computacenter is also deploying Microsoft SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager), which will help it to better manage NHS Oldham’s ICT estate. The solution will enable Computacenter to maintain a standard user operating system and deliver desktop software in a more cost-effective manner.
 
Chris Price, Public Sector Director at Computacenter, said: “Cutting costs and spending more time with patients are ongoing challenges for primary care trusts, and it is important that these already stretched NHS services are given the right level of support and guidance on how IT can be used to meet these needs.
 
“The new Oldham Integrated Care Centre is a great example of this - it has been set up with technology at the core to drive efficient working practices, which in turn enables healthcare workers to dedicate more resource to serving the community.
 
“With increased pressure to cut costs following the Health Secretary's directive in September, it is important that other primary care trusts look at Oldham's approach to technology to understand how they can meet this goal and make significant savings in their budget.”